Enth Degree November 15, 2006

News and Notes from the World of Wine

By Wine Enthusiast

The Enth Degree – November 15, 2006
Upping the Ante

Poker night takes on a new level of style with St. Francis Winery’s Classic Poker Night Box, a $125 set that includes two bottles of the respected Sonoma winery’s wine, two Riedel “O” glasses, two decks of cards and 150 clay composite poker chips. The brainchild of poker fanatic and St. Francis founder Joe Martin, the game also features personal touches like Martin’s recipe for his favorite mixed nuts, and rules for Sonoma Hold ’em. www.stfrancispokerparty.com

—Janet Forman
Médoc’s Marathon Mania

Want to win your weight in Médoc wine? Can you run 26.2 miles and be first across the finish line? 7,107 contestants in the Médoc, France, made a September dash for the prize in the Médoc Marathon, known as the world’s longest marathon for spectacularly distracting costumes, wine, cheese, paté, oysters, massage and live music. The route weaves through the chateaus and vineyards of Lynch Bages, Latour, Cos d’Estournel, Leoville Barton and 50 others.

The 22nd marathon drew more than 80 Americans. French marathoner David Antoine won the wine with a time of 2:28:07. Herve Antoine (no relation) finished 91st (3:23:19), the first U.S. contestant across the finish line.

Houston’s Frank Krekeler, 38, was at the other end of the streaming rave. His 7:25:16 got him across the line minutes before the race closed. “I had fully trained in the fine art of wine drinking. Leading up to the marathon, I toured six wineries in Texas, which as you know is becoming a wine mecca,” said Krekeler. “During the Médoc run, I might have missed one chateau due to the fatigue factor, but I did my best to sample them all.”

—Kathleen Buckley

James Bond’s love for luxury ventures
into the world of wine, too.

James Bond has become famous for the vodka martini (“shaken not stirred”) but wine—particularly Champagne—is at least as important to the suave Ian Fleming operative. To celebrate the release of Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig as 007, here’s a list of some of the wines the adventurer on the page enjoyed when he wasn’t saving the world or wooing vixens. Excerpted from A Wine Miscellany: A Jaunt Through The Whimsical World Of Wine by Graham Harding (Clarkson Potter, $17).

From Russia with Love
In From Russia With Love, Red Grant, the KGB assassin, orders Chianti with his fish course while dining on the Orient Express. When, at first, Bond is overpowered by Grant, he remarks, “Red wine with fish. That should have told me something.”